Hudson's Bay store will be integrated into the mall to accommodate luxury arrival

The first Saks Fifth Avenue store in Toronto was originally expected to be at Yonge and Bloor, but its new owner Hudson’s Bay Co. announced a change of plans on Jan. 27, with the confirmation that it would be at the heritage location adjacent to the main Toronto Eaton Centre instead.

An announcement that the Bay store property was sold to Eaton Centre owner Cadillac Fairview for $650-million, then leased back to the retail giant for 25 years with option to extend it for 50 more, included the revelation of the plan to integrate Saks into the space — originally built as the flagship Simpsons department store in 1896 — while retaining the traditional Bay store selection on some floors.

The stately department store at Queen and Yonge will be easier to convert to the higher-end Saks setting than the aesthetically unpleasant Hudson’s Bay at Bloor — which is still expected to make the conversion at some point.

A future location of Saks in the west end of Toronto at the Sherway Gardens mall, which is owned by Cadillac Fairview, was also confirmed in the announcement.

Saks will now compete downtown with Nordstrom, a similar luxury department store that will replace Sears on the north end of the Toronto Eaton Centre — whose original 1977 department store anchors Eaton’s and Simpsons will be replaced by this an entirely new American-style luxury complexion by fall 2016.

PHOTO: Seth Wenig/Associated PressSaks & Company in New York is shown on Aug. 15, 2011

The previous Canada.com report from Nov. 28, 2013:

The Bay location at the corner of Yonge and Bloor in Toronto has always been an awkward home for the company.

The space has no connection to the main street and is tucked inside of a concrete office complex completed in 1974. Winding spaces inside of the store have also made it an ordeal for most shoppers to find what they are looking for.

Plus, the mid-priced traditional department store has always been out of step with the fashionable Yorkville area a few steps away — even if the Bay stores have now adopted the higher-end Hudson’s Bay branding in an effort to distinguish themselves from suffering rival Sears.

The new issue of the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business Magazine reveals a different future for the space after four decades, though: Saks Fifth Avenue.

Now that the luxury U.S. chain has been formally acquired by the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) for $2.4-billion, majority owner Richard Baker has stepped up preparations for its expansion to Canada, with the Yonge and Bloor location selected as the flagship.

“This will be the second-largest Saks in the world,” Baker boasted to R.O.B. reporter Marina Strauss, noting that it will be double the size of the nearby Holt Renfrew.

The story notes a rendering that shows the long-neglected location “sleekly redesigned, with a white façade and large sheets of glass at the front.”

Yorkdale and Sherway Gardens are also likely to get Saks Fifth Avenue locations as both malls expand to reach a more lucrative luxury clientele.

Saks will be competing for customers with another chain crossing the border from the U.S. in the next year or so, Nordstrom — which is rumoured to be moving into the Toronto Eaton Centre location whose retail space will be vacated by Sears in early 2014.